"The first truth is that the liberty of a democracy is not safe if the people tolerate the growth of private power to a point where it becomes stronger than their democratic state itself. That, in its essence, is fascism — ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. ”
— Franklin D. Roosevelt

And now, the greatest governor of Tennessee in my lifetime is gone. Ned Ray McWherter, speaker of the House for 14 years and Governor for eight more, the man who bestrode this state like a colossus, putting working people first, has left us at the age of 80. He had been ill with cancer, and died at a Nashville hospital early this afternoon.